Kunal Shah, 41, founder of fintech company CRED, now valued at $6.4 billion and one of India’s top 10 unicorns, has another accomplishment: He is also India’s top startup founder and investor, having funded more than 266 startups, according to data from research firm Traxcn.
Shah’s portfolio includes online payments company Razorpay, e-commerce platform Snapdeal, manufacturing services company Zetwork, electric ride-sharing company BlueSmart, education technology company Unacademy, online clothing company Bliss Club and online used car platform Spinny.
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Of those, 11 are unicorns, according to Traxcn.
Shah has been on an investment spree in 2024, closing its latest seed investment in fintech company Propperr on June 17. This year, he has also invested in financial services company Sipay, mobile game Lightfurry Games, mental health startup Mave Health, and US-based AI risk management company SydeLabs.
Shah features in the prestigious list of top five startup founders based on the number of companies they have invested in. In second place is Anupam Mittal, 52, a Boston College graduate who founded matchmaking website shaadi.com, with 213 investments in companies. Shaadi.com is reportedly valued at Rs 250 billion.
Mittal rose to fame as one of the startup founders who appeared on the popular yet controversial TV reality show “Shark Tank,” where startups pitch to raise funds from founder-investors. He has invested in a variety of well-known companies, including Bhavish Agarwal’s Ola, Tata-owned BigBasket, two-wheeler ride-hailing platform Rapido, FabHotels, payments app MobiKwik and Sugar Cosmetics. Of these, Ola, logistics company Porter and MobiKwik are three unicorns.
Like Shah, Mittal has also been prolific in 2024, with investments this year including some made on “Shark Tank,” such as Bengaluru-based “Uncle Peter’s Pancakes.”
Coming in at number three and four on the list of top startup founders are Snapdeal co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. Snapdeal’s fortunes have seen ups and downs. Once valued at a staggering $6.5 billion, the company has been grappling with survival challenges alongside a failed merger with Flipkart. However, the company has now filed a red herring draft prospectus for an IPO to raise Rs 125 crore.
Bahl is also the co-founder of Titan Capital, a seed-stage venture capital fund that supports entrepreneurs with capital and mentorship, and has invested in over 195 companies including Ola, Razorpay, skincare brand Mamaearth, hyper-local e-commerce delivery platform Shadowfax and beer band Bira 91.
According to Traxcn, Bahl’s portfolio includes seven unicorns – buyer-supplier platform OfBusiness, Mamaearth, Ola, grocery app DealShare, Razorpay, Snapdeal and messaging app Hike.
Bahl’s co-founder at Snapdeal, Rohit Bansal, is also a prodigious investor, having invested in 165 companies, many of which are the same ones Bahl has invested in.
Coming in at number five is 67-year-old Raman Roy, one of the early entrepreneurs who helped set up the BPO business in the country. Though he is the oldest of the group, he too has magic hands. He has invested in 111 companies, mostly in the form of seed funding. Among his investments, there is one unicorn, according to Traxcn: Uniphore, a US-based conversational automation technology company.
